This is a story about what I learned from my 60 year old aunt, who has been an unsuccessful song writer for 40 years. The point of this article is not to put her down(I love her), but to bring the light some of the pitfalls to avoid as a beginning song writer.
When I first started producing, she would come to me with songs written on loose pieces of paper, asking me to record her songs for her. Her songs mostly consisted of lyrics that were not really formatted in any particular way. They really looked more like poems than songs.
Then, I was barely making hip hop that anyone would listen to. However, I still wanted to help record her songs...so I needed to know how the lyrics were supposed to go? When I asked her, she didn't know. Since she didn't really sing, she had never thought of any melodies. I couldn't sing either and couldn't think of any melodies myself at the time, so the lyrics just sat on the shelf.
Tip: Most parties who are interested in buying songs, are interested in just that, buying songs, not just lyrics.
Eventually, my aunt realized that when she came to me her songs needed to be formatted a little better, and that she at least needed to have some sort of melody to give me with her lyrics.
In terms of formats, there are multiple song formats you can choose from (google "song formats"), or you don't have to use any format at all, as long as it sounds good.
Lyrics......check! Format....check!.......Melodies.....check!...wait a minute..uncheck! My relative pretty much had the same melody for every song, and it was a country western melody....Problem, because I definitely didn't know how to make country western music.
Fast forward, we were both frustrated, her songs were not getting made, and that was because I couldn't do country western and I couldn't convert it to R&B or Hip Hop successfully. So she started to bring random people who somebody said could sing, who had never recorded in a studio before in their life. Some of them, she even paid. Of course, the results were horrible. All of these events, left her mad at me and frustrated with music in general....so how do you avoid this happening to you?
Tip: To be a writer, you do not have to be a singer, but you do need to find or have access to someone who can perform you lyrics.
When it comes to writing styles, writers are different. There are some that don't write with music at all. Those writers can just peruse instrumentals until they find one that fits their lyrics. Then there are some that have an idea about what they want their music to sound like. In that case, those writers can find a producer who can create exactly what the writer is hearing.
Other writers find an instrumental before they start to write. There are many places to find instrumentals (www.freshoffabreakup.com). Once these type of writers have their music, then they need to write. I, personally don't write lyrics down. I record them onto a personal recorder to make sure that I remember the timing of my words.
Next in order, is finding someone to record your song. You need a good or professional singer that is familiar with the genre of music you are seeking to make. What I like to do is ask potential demo singers to sing my song over the instrumental that I have chosen. That way I can determine how well they are at writing melodies. This is important to me because without a good, fast melody writer, the session will be long and there will be a good possibility that it won't turn out the way I want.
What do you do after the recording session is done and you actually like your song? Mixing time..thats what. Most likely, whoever engineered the original session will also be able to mix your record...it will just take a little more time and a little more money. You also need to be able to express to the mixing engineer what you want the end result to sound like. If not, you are taking the risk that the sound engineer may not do what you want him to do, the way you want him to do it.
Lastly, you need to get your song mastered. You can find a mastering engineer, which is kind of expensive, or you can most likely get the mixing engineer to do pretty much the same thing cheaper.
After your hit song is mastered, copyrighted, and registered with ascap, bmi, or sesac, then you are ready to submit!
If you follow the simple steps above, you'll be ahead of the game!
When I first started producing, she would come to me with songs written on loose pieces of paper, asking me to record her songs for her. Her songs mostly consisted of lyrics that were not really formatted in any particular way. They really looked more like poems than songs.
Then, I was barely making hip hop that anyone would listen to. However, I still wanted to help record her songs...so I needed to know how the lyrics were supposed to go? When I asked her, she didn't know. Since she didn't really sing, she had never thought of any melodies. I couldn't sing either and couldn't think of any melodies myself at the time, so the lyrics just sat on the shelf.
Tip: Most parties who are interested in buying songs, are interested in just that, buying songs, not just lyrics.
Eventually, my aunt realized that when she came to me her songs needed to be formatted a little better, and that she at least needed to have some sort of melody to give me with her lyrics.
In terms of formats, there are multiple song formats you can choose from (google "song formats"), or you don't have to use any format at all, as long as it sounds good.
Lyrics......check! Format....check!.......Melodies.....check!...wait a minute..uncheck! My relative pretty much had the same melody for every song, and it was a country western melody....Problem, because I definitely didn't know how to make country western music.
Fast forward, we were both frustrated, her songs were not getting made, and that was because I couldn't do country western and I couldn't convert it to R&B or Hip Hop successfully. So she started to bring random people who somebody said could sing, who had never recorded in a studio before in their life. Some of them, she even paid. Of course, the results were horrible. All of these events, left her mad at me and frustrated with music in general....so how do you avoid this happening to you?
Tip: To be a writer, you do not have to be a singer, but you do need to find or have access to someone who can perform you lyrics.
When it comes to writing styles, writers are different. There are some that don't write with music at all. Those writers can just peruse instrumentals until they find one that fits their lyrics. Then there are some that have an idea about what they want their music to sound like. In that case, those writers can find a producer who can create exactly what the writer is hearing.
Other writers find an instrumental before they start to write. There are many places to find instrumentals (www.freshoffabreakup.com). Once these type of writers have their music, then they need to write. I, personally don't write lyrics down. I record them onto a personal recorder to make sure that I remember the timing of my words.
Next in order, is finding someone to record your song. You need a good or professional singer that is familiar with the genre of music you are seeking to make. What I like to do is ask potential demo singers to sing my song over the instrumental that I have chosen. That way I can determine how well they are at writing melodies. This is important to me because without a good, fast melody writer, the session will be long and there will be a good possibility that it won't turn out the way I want.
What do you do after the recording session is done and you actually like your song? Mixing time..thats what. Most likely, whoever engineered the original session will also be able to mix your record...it will just take a little more time and a little more money. You also need to be able to express to the mixing engineer what you want the end result to sound like. If not, you are taking the risk that the sound engineer may not do what you want him to do, the way you want him to do it.
Lastly, you need to get your song mastered. You can find a mastering engineer, which is kind of expensive, or you can most likely get the mixing engineer to do pretty much the same thing cheaper.
After your hit song is mastered, copyrighted, and registered with ascap, bmi, or sesac, then you are ready to submit!
If you follow the simple steps above, you'll be ahead of the game!
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